2. How to search for records

Search Discovery, our catalogue, to find records from over 2,500 archives across the UK, as well as from The National Archives itself. Your search results will include details of which archives currently hold the records.

Click on the title of a result for the contact details of the archive which holds the record – you will need to contact this archive for further information about the collection or the record itself.

Where the keywords you searched for appear in the description of a record, the search results are displayed under the ‘Records’ tab.

Where the keywords you searched for appear in the name of the institution or person that originally created the record (often not the same as the institution or person that currently holds the record), the search results are displayed under the ‘Record creators’ tab. For further tips on searching, see our Discovery help pages.

If you are looking for the records of a particular state-funded school you should, in the first instance, contact the nearest local archive. Use the Find an archive tool to find contact details for county and other local archives.

3. Records held at The National Archives

The National Archives is probably the single richest source of records for the study of Imperial and Commonwealth history. As well as official records of the Colonial and Dominions Offices, The National Archives holds many personal and semi-official papers of British ministers and officials relating to former British colonies; including the papers of General Sir Redevers Buller (WO 132), Viscount Cardwell, 4th Earl of Carnarvon (PRO 30/30), Earl Kitchener of Khartoum (PRO 30/57) and Viscount Milner (PRO 30/30). You can search for records using Discovery our catalogue and selecting the ‘held by The National Archives’ option.

The National Archives also has written many research guides describing sources for imperial and commonwealth history including guides on the Colonial Office, Foreign Office, and Dominions Office as well as a guide called Colonies and dependencies: further research.

4. Records recently collected by other archives

Many archives regularly take in new records to add to their collections – this process is known as accessioning. Every year, The National Archives collects information about new accessions from 250 archives across Britain and Ireland. This is known as the annual Accessions to Repositories’ survey.

This information is added to Discovery, our catalogue. It is also edited and used to produce thematic digests, including one relating to education history. The digests are made available through this website and distributed for publication in a number of learned journals and newsletters. Further information is available at Accessions to Repositories.

5. Major collections

The following is a list of repositories and institutions that hold major collections relating to Imperial and Commonwealth history.

Holds extensive primary source materials on southern Africa with a strong emphasis on Rhodesia and parts of South Africa in the post Second World War period, including papers of Joost De Blank, Sir Patrick Duncan, the Rev WD Grenfell, Dame Naomi Mitchison, Sir TIF Wilson and Sir Roy Welensky. See Tom Lodge, AV Akeroyd and CP Lunt Guide to the Southern Africa Archives in the University of York (1979).

As one of the major national repositories for the United Kingdom the British Library holds papers of many eminent persons who served as colonial administrators. Some 53 such individuals are listed in the Commission’s guide to the Private Papers of British Colonial Governors 1782-1900, (HMSO 1986) and many others can be found in The British Library, Catalogue of Additions to Manuscripts (1986).

The single most important repository in the UK for records documenting the British presence in the sub-continent. Holdings include official records of the East India Company, Board of Control and India Office, taking in records of British administration in the Persian Gulf, East Africa and South Asia at different periods. Also holds extensive collections of personal papers of individuals who served in the area, notable examples being the Viceregal papers of Chelmsford, Curzon, Dufferin, Lansdowne, Mountbatten, Northbrook and Wavell. See Select List of the Private Collections in the European MSS (1985) and DM Blake, Catalogue of the European Manuscripts in the Oriental and India Office Collections in the British Library (1998).

Holds records relating to the British presence in India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Burma, Nepal and Afghanistan, with a strong emphasis on the papers of civil servants and others who worked in government administration for the period 1760-1947. See Mary Thatcher Cambridge South Asian Archive (1973) and L Carter and D Bateson Principal Collections of Papers in the Cambridge South Asian Archive (3rd ed, 1995).

Holds records of colonial officials and others including Lt-General Sir George Arthur, Sir John Glover and Frederick Grant Banks as well as a large collection of travel journals, diaries and papers. Records of organisations such as the Imperial Federation League, the Royal Colonial Institute and the Commonwealth Producers Organisation are also held. See DH Simpson Manuscript Catalogue of the Royal Commonwealth Society (1975)

Holds major collections of primary sources relating to countries in the Commonwealth with a particular emphasis on southern Africa and the West Indies. Among the personal papers held are those of CLR James, Simon Taylor and Richard Hart, Richard Jebb, Sir William Ivor Jennings, Mary Benson and John Patrick Cope. Organisational holdings include records of the African National Congress, South African Congress of Democrats and the West India Committee.

An extensive collection of oriental and African MSS and related European MSS, including private papers of overseas administrators, businessman, scholars, teachers, missionaries and travellers. The School also holds many business records including the British India Steam Navigation Co Ltd, Guthrie and Co Ltd, India merchants, London and John Swire and Sons, oriental merchants and ship owners. The School is one of the main repositories for overseas mission records including the London Mission Society, the Methodist Missionary Society, the China Inland Mission, the United Society for Christian Literature and others; other organisational records include Liberation, formerly the Movement for Colonial Freedom and the China Association. See Guide to the Archives and Manuscript Collections (1987).

Holds papers of British colonial officials who served in Canada including Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, Lt-General Sir Archibald Campbell, General Sir William MacBean George Colebrooke, Admiral Sir Thomas Duckworth, John George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham and the Legge family, Earls of Dartmouth. See Union List of Manuscripts in Canadian Repositories, revised edition (1975).

Holds papers of persons who served in the colonial administration including Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, George William Hope, Lt-General Sir James Leith, Henry Brougham Loch, 1st Baron Loch and General George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie.

Holds a collection of non-official historical manuscripts comprised of private papers of former colonial officials including Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl Grey, Sir Leander Starr Jameson, Sir Harry Hamilton Johnson, Sir William Henry Milton, General Sir George Thomas Napier and Colonel Francis William Rhodes; also, business records including the Anglo-African Trading Co and records of missions and other organisations. See TW Baxter and EE Burke Guide to the Historical Manuscripts in the National Archives of Rhodesia (1970).

Holds manuscript collections relating mainly to Africa, including papers of colonial officials and other persons including Cecil John Rhodes, General Sir Richard Bourke and Lord Lugard, and papers of former British colonial officials and development administrators collected under the Oxford Colonial Records Project and the Oxford Development Records Project. Rhodes House Library also holds organisational records including the Fabian Colonial Bureau, the London Group on African Affairs and the Africa Bureau. See LB Frewer Manuscript Collections of Africana in Rhodes House Library, Oxford (1968) and Manuscript Collections (excluding Africana)(1970-1978).

Holds the papers of over two hundred individuals who either served or had interests in the Middle East, with particular emphasis on Palestine during the period of the British Mandate and Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States since the First World War. Among individuals of note are Harold Richard Patrick Dickson, Cecil John Edmonds, Harry St John Philby and Major-General Sir Edward Louis Spears.

Holds records of overseas expeditions and private papers, diaries and travel journals of British explorers in territories which subsequently became colonies. See The RGS Archives. A Handlist, compiled by Christine Kelly. (Reprinted from the Geographical Journal vols 141-3 and a supplement 1988 vol 154).

6. Other useful resources

The Archives Hub provides descriptions of collections held at archives in UK universities and colleges. At present the descriptions are primarily of the broad themes and subject matters of the collections, although where possible they are linked to more detailed descriptions of the records that make up each collection.

The Mundus Gateway is a web-based guide to more than 400 collections of overseas missionary materials held in the United Kingdom. These materials, comprising the archives of British missionary societies, collections of personal papers, printed matter, photographs, other visual materials and artefacts, are held in a large number of libraries, record offices and other institutions in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

India Office Library and Records: Select List of the Private Collections in the European MSS (1985)

N Matthews and MD Wainwright, Guide to Manuscripts and Documents in the British Isles relating to the Far East (1977)

JD Pearson, Guide to Manuscripts and Documents in the British Isles relating to South and South-East Asia, 2 vols (1989-90)

RK Renford, Archival and Library Sources for the study of the activities of the non-official British Community in India – a brief survey ((SOAS) 1976)

GPSH de Silva, Survey of Archives and Manuscripts relating to Sri Lanka and located in major London Repositories ((UNESCO) 1981)

Mary Thatcher, Cambridge South Asian Archive: Records of the British Period in South Asia (1973)

Pitt Kuan Wah, Guide to the Public & Private Records Relating to Singapore in Nine Major Repositories in the UK (unpublished dissertation, microfiche copy available in the Open Reading Room, at The National Archives, Pamphlet 959.67 WAH)